PITTSBURGH -- The latest unavoidable blow to Francisco Cervelli’s head forced the Pirates to make a flurry of roster moves before Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers at PNC Park.

Pittsburgh placed Cervelli, who exited Saturday’s game due to concussion-like symptoms, on the seven-day concussion injured list. In need of another catcher behind Elias Diaz, the Bucs selected the contract of Jacob Stallings from Triple-A Indianapolis.

To make room on their 40-man roster for Stallings, Pittsburgh designated infielder/outfielder Jake Elmore for assignment. The club also recalled corner infielder/outfielder Jose Osuna from Indianapolis to fill Elmore’s spot on the active roster.

When a player's contract is designated for assignment -- often abbreviated "DFA" -- that player is immediately removed from his club's 40-man roster, and 25-man roster if he was on that as well. Within seven days of the transaction (it was previously 10 days), the player must either be traded, released or placed on irrevocable outright waivers.

The genesis of all those moves was a broken-bat backswing that crashed into Cervelli’s facemask in the fourth inning of the Pirates’ 7-2 loss Saturday night. Joc Pederson pulled a 1-1 pitch from Joe Musgrove foul, breaking his bat in the process, and the barrel connected directly with the front of Cervelli’s mask.

Cervelli remained in the game after a brief meeting with manager Clint Hurdle and head athletic trainer Bryan Housand, and he stepped to the plate to hit in the bottom of the fourth. Without seeing a pitch, however, Cervelli walked back to the dugout and left the game.

“Every single time he takes a ball off the mask, you hold your breath, because we care about this gentleman,” general manager Neal Huntington said. “We care about this person and want him to have a great post-playing career. We go through the protocol every single time. We follow it to a T every single time.”

The 33-year-old catcher has a long history of concussions dating back approximately a decade. He was placed on the injured list twice each of the last two years, and once in 2011 due to concussion symptoms. Huntington said the club has talked about moving Cervelli out from behind the plate to protect him, but, “We’re not there yet.”

“You don’t see this as a league-wide challenge. Unfortunately, in Francisco’s case, it’s been Francisco more than anybody else -- maybe as much as the rest of them bunched together. Just the volume of hits, foul tips, a bat last night,” Hurdle said Sunday morning. “There comes a point in time where there’s only so much you can do [to protect catchers] until you see it happening wide-range, where you’ve got 10 or 15 catchers experiencing similar things. Right now, he seems to be unfortunately an outlier with the volume and number of hits. It’s really been unfortunate.”

Cervelli is the 22nd Pirates player to serve a stint on the injured list this season. If Osuna gets into a game, he will become the 41st player used by the Bucs this year.

Stallings cracked the Pirates’ Opening Day roster while Diaz was working his way back from a virus, then he was placed on the 10-day IL due to a cervical neck strain on April 21. The Pirates ended his rehab assignment and outrighted him to Triple-A on May 17. Stallings, lauded by Pittsburgh’s pitchers for his work behind the plate, has hit .275 in 15 games for Indianapolis this season.

Elmore joined the Pirates on May 13 and recorded a single in his first Major League at-bat since Oct. 2, 2016, then went 0-for-19 before being removed from the roster.

Osuna, who hit .231/.263/.417 with 10 home runs for the Pirates over the last two years, began this season on the Major League injured list with lower neck discomfort. The club optioned him to Triple-A on May 3. He has hit .268/.361/.479 with two homers in 19 games for Indianapolis this season.

Brault, Kingham to rejoin rotation

Top prospect Mitch Keller will join the Pirates’ rotation to start the second half of Monday’s doubleheader in Cincinnati, and Nick Kingham and Steven Brault will rejoin the starting staff after Pittsburgh’s brief experiment with the opener strategy.

Kingham is scheduled to start against the Reds on Monday afternoon at Great American Ball Park in Game 1 of the doubleheader, while Brault is listed to pitch in Wednesday’s series finale. Both pitchers took the mound after an opener recently, with Kingham doing so once and Brault twice.

With an overworked bullpen and a doubleheader looming, however, the Pirates decided to give both pitchers another chance to start.

“We need to maximize our arms the best we can, see if these guys can give us pushes off early. If not, well, we’ll figure it out as we go along,” Hurdle said. “But we want to go back and revisit giving them an opportunity to step forward.

“When they pitch well, it never hurts. But there comes a point in time they need to pitch well to get opportunities to pitch.”

Rehab updates

• Third baseman Jung Ho Kang (left side strain) is set to begin a rehab assignment Monday with Indianapolis. Kang struggled before being placed on the injured list, so the Pirates will give him plenty of time to get him back on track.

“We want to help him get his timing right and be in a position to come back here and help us win games,” Huntington said.

• Reliver Keone Kela gave up three runs on three hits in one inning for Indianapolis on Saturday, his first rehab outing. The Pirates will reevaluate Kela over the coming days to determine his next step.

• Outfielder Lonnie Chisenhall’s rehab assignment remains on hold due to recurrent left calf tightness. Chisenhall has not played for Pittsburgh this season.